Nikolai Yesidorov

Nikolai Itzhakovich Yesidorov (1664-1719) was a Russian merchant who was the founder of the Imports & Exports Company in Murmansk in the Russian Empire in 1702.

Biography
Nikolai Yesidorov was the son of Itzhak Yesidorov and Chava Grodnovsky, two Russian Jewish peasants, who made a home in the city of Orsk. His family later moved to the port of Murmansk when his father Itzhak gained a job as a barterer, and Nikolai began a trading career at the age of 17. From 1681 until his death in 1719, Yesidorov made countless journeys across the world to explore unknown areas. He wrote Stranstviya (English: "Travels") over the course of his explorations, charting where he went and detailing new lands that Russian explorers had not yet reached.

In 1702, Yesidorov saved up enough money to found the Imports & Exports Company in Murmansk, and he traveled to India that year. At the opened port of Barcelor, which became a bustling commercial hub since the Maratha Confederacy's takeover, Yesidorov managed a large Russian trading fleet that traded Russian coal, iron, and copper for Indian spice, sugar, and gemstones. The trading company made lots of money, as Russia had not been used to the Indian imports that Yesidorov had brought in to the country. He continued to harvest goods from this operation, as well as trading stations in the East Indies, until his death in 1719 of beriberi in the Sulu Sultanate.